Advice for Hamilton and Verstappen: 'It's so much better to accept defeat'

It went wrong in Monza between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Both went home with zero points. Mika Hakkinen, who saw similar battles in his time with Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna, has cautionary advice for the competitors of Mercedes and Red Bull Racing.

Grid penalty was not the biggest penalty

In his column on Unibet.com Mika Hakkinen discusses the Monza race, where he was thrilled by his old team McLaren's 1-2. About the crash between Hamilton and Verstappen, he speaks more cautiously. That crash was avoidable.

"The Stewards decided Max was mainly at fault, giving him a grid penalty at the next race. A much bigger penalty is that Max did not win the race. To beat Lewis he must out-perform him."

Hakkinen warns Verstappen and Hamilton

The Finnish former driver remembers the controversial crashes of his old rivals Schumacher and Senna: "In my opinion, it is always best to avoid the other guy and stay focused on winning. When you have contact you can never be certain what will happen. Your competitor might have a damaged car, but it can easily be your turn to suffer. There is no certainty about crashing into each other."

"It is so much better to focus on staying flat out, running the best strategy and accepting that you cannot win every race. Sometimes 2nd or 3rd is an important result, especially when you are trying to win a World Championship."